Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the Twilight Series. Any/all inclusive material copyright to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 1: For Those of the Unlucky Kind

The photograph was yellowed and worn around the edges. The essence of love and obsession was still clear to me though; like a body of water on a sunny day, I saw right through the surface. How unfortunate,I thought, staring closely at the two people in the picture, how did I not notice the way he was looking at me when this was actually taken?

"Flight 218 to Portland, Oregon now boarding."

"Well Bells," Charlie murmured quietly as he walked up to me. Discreetly, I tucked the photograph in my jacket pocket, along with my hand. Forcing a smile, I looked up at him. "It's time."

I sighed. "Yeah."

Around us, people made beelines for their flights, some for the exits. Just behind Charlie, a young brunette, around eight years old, stood in the middle of the airport. With a duffle bag by her feet, a suitcase on her other side and a sock monkey gripped tightly in her small hands, her head twisted and turned as she looked for someone. Her outgrown bangs flicked around her face, in and out of her eyes, until she finally stopped moving. As if the world stood still, her mouth slowly dropped open.

As slow as it had dropped, her dimples showed as her lips curled into a sweet, excited smile. Leaving her bags on the ground, the girl held the sock monkey in one hand as the other stretched out as she broke out into a sprint accross the airport.

Her tiny legs shifted quickly, not quite being able to keep up with her body. Finally, in about six seconds, she collided with the male and female versions of herself-her parents. They picked her up, hugged her tight. I could have sworn I saw the mother's face glisten-I could have sworn I saw the father's shine a bit too.

"This is gonna sound pretty..." Charlie cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Strange... coming from me."

My eyebrow arched. "I can be the judge of that," I smiled.

He attempted a smile. I don't know if it was the fact that this was the first time in years that we'd be living hundreds of miles apart, or the pressuring of the little time we had left for goodbyes-but I'd never seen Charlie as such... a mess. "For the first time in years, that little house of ours in this small town is gonna feel pretty damn lonely again."

A small tear ran down his scruffy face.

With my heart broken in two, with both halves remaining in my home and in Charlie's heart, with my suitcase packed and my eyes purposely avoiding the young girl with the sock monkey, I collected myself, hugged Charlie for a quick moment, and lifted my suitcase.

Next stop; Portland, Oregon.

The plane ride was short and jerky. By the time I was relieved from the uncomfortably flight, I called a taxi and directed the driver to Portland State University. It wasn't a long drive, but long enough to make my senses adjusted to the taxi's smell of rotten chicken wings and eggs.

It was an understatement to think that it was a relief to finally breathe fresh air after stepping out of the cap. The air in Portland was considerably lighter than than that of the taxi's. On the other hand, "Any air is better than that taxi's."

"Excuse me?"

"Huh?" I spun around quickly. Behind me stood a strange, short girl. Black spiky hair lined her pixie face, her tiny frame of bone held her body at a good 4"5.

Talking to myself is a fabulous first impression. Nicely done.

"Oh, sorry," I shifted my bags into my left hand and offered her my right. "I'm Bella."

"Alice," she smiled hesitantly, shaking my hand. Her eyebrow quirked after she let go, watching me struggle with the weight of my things. "Want some help?"

"Oh, no," I smiled. "But thanks."

"Anytime." With that, she spun on her heel and walked away.

As I made my way through the courtyard towards Stephen E. Epler Hall, room 303, I thought to myself how strange everything felt. I didn't feel any dramatic changes to my life—it felt as if I'd never moved out, never started to feel like an individual. All I felt was the dull, empty ache in my heart. I hadn't been in Portland for more than an hour and already I missed my father terribly.

My calves were throbbing by the time I managed to set everything down in the elevator in my building. My calves weren't half the pain of my head, though—throbbing away. I just wasn't able to catch a break, apparently.

I sighed and pressed the button for my floor. Slowly, the doors began to close, revealing to me my reflection in the mirrored doors. Before my entire reflection could be seen, the doors halted. In stepped Alice.

"Bella!" She beamed. This, from the girl who'd easily said about three things to me at first introduction, then walked away randomly. What a strange girl.

"Alice!" Even saying her name with slight enthusiasm made it hurt more. Fantastic.

Alice settled into the elevator and reached for the buttons. "Oh," she said, retracting her hand and laughing. "You're on the same floor as my brother."

"Oh, I didn't know this floor was co-ed..." Dad would be oh so pleased to hear about this.

"Bella," she laughed, "The entire buildingis co-ed."

Even more fantastic.

"Great," I grumbled. "Is there any way to switch rooms? Or... you know... buildings...?"

"Why would you want to do that? Scared of boys?" She teased.

"Not at all. My Dad, on the other hand..."

She caught on to where I was headed with that and chuckled. "You'll probably be roomed with a girl, so no worries."

"Are you in this building?" Shouldn't have gotten my hopes up there. That probably sounded pretty pathetic.

"Actually, no," she frowned. "I wish I was though. I'm roomed with the worst person on the planet." She must have noted my confused expression, "Her name is Vicky. I've known her for... well, a while."

"She can't be that bad," I smiled as the elevator doors opened. Alice moaned as we stepped out of the elevator.

"Bella, she's terrible."

"Well maybe we can trade roommates," I murmured as we neared my room. "Depending on how this goes."

We both stopped in front of room 303. I breathed out slowly—this won't be bad, everything will be good, your roommate will be awesome, like Alice, stay calm.

"Um... what number did you say your room was?" Alice asked slowly.

"Three-oh-three. Why?"

Alice's eyes bugged out of her head. "We might have a problem."

"What're you talking about?" No, no, no. No problems. Please no, not now.

"So, you know how I said you'd probably be roomed with a girl?" She winced as she said 'girl'.

Where could she be going with this? "Yeah?"

"I was totally wrong."

My stomach dropped.

"But..." No way. "I thought they couldn't room you with the opposite sex unless you sign a certain form...? Like a consent...? I don't remember signing that."

"There's no consent form, ninety percent of the people here aren't virgins. They don't treat us like eighth graders." She breathed a heavy sigh. Now I really didn't like where this was going.

"Alice, what's going on?"

"This is my brother's room, Bella." She bit her lip. "You're stuck with my brother for the year."

Right.

"This will be fine," I mumbled to myself. "I just need to work things out with him, explain the situation, and get a room change." I smiled.

Alice hit her forehead with her palm as I opened the door.

The room was moist and warm, reminding me of a weak sauna. A mirror on the wall adjacent to me was completely soaked in condensation, the air was so thick I could practically see the water particles floating around. The bathroom door was wide open. Alice rushed to close it as I blushed.

"I'm... sosorry about that." She scowled at the ground. "This is exactly why you shouldn't be here."

"What?" I set my bags down. They were just way too heavy to awkwardly stand there and hold for however long it took Alice's brother to finish his shower.

"My brother..." She grimaced. "I love him, of course I love him, but he doesn't exactly treat women... right, per se. He's a douche when it comes to girls," she looked at me with weary eyes. "I have a gut feeling that if he gets to know you, he'll pounce. And you'll both end up hurt."

"That's a pretty big assumption," I whispered as the shower cut off. "I mean, given that we just met and all, no offence intended."

"None taken," she whispered as we heard movement in the bathroom. "I may not know you well, Bella, but I know my brother. If you end up staying here for a long period of time... trust me, it will not end up well. At all."

"But, wait... what?" Alice opened her mouth to reply to my confused expression, but was cut short when the bathroom door flung open.

Well, on the bright side, he without doubt had one of the best bodies I'd ever seen. His perfectly toned chest glittered with the water droplets that had not yet been wiped off his clear, smooth-looking skin. His face was matured and also had impeccable toning; high cheek bones, strong jaw line.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Whoa. Impeccable manners to go with the frame, obviously.

"Bella," I held my hand out. When he was finished burning a hole into my palm with his eyes, I took my hand back. Charming guy. "Bella Swan, I guess we're roommates."

He stared at me blankly for a moment, then shifted his gaze from me to Alice, then back again. After going back and forth between us, he paused. A loud, booming guffaw followed.

"No, seriously," he choked up. Alice cleared her throat. Unwillingly, one of my eyebrows raised. The last thing I wanted to do was present an unattractive attitude that would just make him even more angry. "What the fuck? I didn't ask for a chick."

"Edward," Alice shushed. "You know I hate that word."

"Sorry, Mom." He walked across the room to a dresser, then turned to us. "Oh, I mean Alice."

"You don't have to be so mean about this," She retorted. "Bella didn't want this either, no one here did."

"So, we've got a problem," I stated.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Edward chuckled sarcastically.

"Christ Edward, would it kill you to be polite?" Alice shook her head. Yeah, I'd be embarrassed too if I had to say I was related to him.

"How do we fix this problem then, Edward, if you're oh so wise?" I asked. My eyebrow raised again, but quickly dropped down. I really had to try tossing that habit.

"Oh, I don't know," he sneered. "Maybe... Oh! Here's a fucking idea! Go to the Dean of Admission's Office, and say you want out of this room."

He just got more and more appealing the longer I stood there.

"Alright, you know what?" Alice stomped over to Edward's cell phone. His face dropped.

"You wouldn't."

"Watch me."

"Please, seriously, I need that."

"I need you to be nice every once and a while. Looks like neither of us get what we want."

"Fine," Edward breathed, running a hand through his messy, damp hair. "You break it, little sister, you're fucking buying me a new one."

He grinned.

His grin widened as she reluctantly set the phone back down. I sighed, "So, what do we do here? If I can't get a room change, and we can't be roomed together, what're our options?"

"We?" Edward shook his head as he opened one of the dresser's drawers. "No, not we. You are going to get a room change."

"That hardly seems fair," I said indifferently.

"Well, I was here first," he tightened his grip around the towel around his waist. "Therefore, you get to leave."

"Edward," Alice sighed.

"Bye-bye." He smiled, then turned away from us and dug through the drawers.

On the un-claimed side of the room was an empty desk and bland, white spring mattress. The room smelt like a mix of Axe and Dove. Why Dove? Last time I checked, guys didn't usually mix the sensation of the over-popular Axe with the overly-feminine Dove. I'm sure plenty of guys did use Dove, but something about Edward gave me the impression that he was more of a prideful guy, a guy who has a certain smell. Axe was probably that smell; why the Dove?

"No."

Alice and Edward looked toward me as I lifted my things and ungracefully set it on the white mattress. "Bella..." Alice bit her lip. Why was she so determined to make sure that I don't room with her brother? Was I really that bad?

Was he really that bad?

I thought about my room in Forks, my Dad's house. My old friends, my graduation. How much that, at the time, I would have killed to fast-forward life and start living it through University. Now, all I wanted was to go back there; people who I knew, a place I was familiar with.

Maybe being so far away from home was too much. Maybe I wasn't able to handle it—this was too far out of my comfort zone, too far away from home.

Would I be able to handle dealing with Edward for an entire semester? Would I be able to focus on school work, and not trying to avoid gouging my eyeballs out of their sockets with a spoon.

"I'm staying," I said boldly. "At least until the end of the semester."

Edward's jaw dropped. "You've gotta be fucking kidding—!"